'We are watching you,' new National Trust head tells David Cameron

Dame Helen Ghosh says the National Trust will "not hesitate" to pick
more political fights like the one over the relaxation of planning laws, in
which many of its four million members joined forces to persuade the Prime
Minister to change his mind.

7:00AM GMT 03 Mar 2013

"We have a very clear purpose, and that's to look after special places, for ever, for everyone," Dame Helen, the new chief executive of the National Trust, told Cole Moreton in an interview for today's Sunday Telegraph.

"I think the Government should be aware that we continue to watch the planning issue very carefully. If we felt there was a comparable issue of that kind of importance, we wouldn't hesitate to step in."

Dame Helen, who was formerly a high-ranking civil servant in the Home Office, also revealed that she had fired "a warning shot across the bows" of the Environment Secretary, urging him to do more to protect under-sea conservation zones.

"I've written to Owen Paterson saying, 'This isn't good enough,'" she said.